BERNARDO MENDES (Mayo Clinic – USA)
Bernardo C. Mendes, M. D. is a Senior Associate Consultant in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Mayo Clinic, and is Assistant Professor of Surgery at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Dr. Mendes received his medical degree from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in 2008 and completed general surgery residency at the Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericordia de Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2012. He subsequently joined the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Mayo Clinic as a Research Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Gustavo S. Oderich, with focus on endovascular treatment of complex abdominal and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms. He joined the vascular surgery integrated residency program in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Mayo Clinic in 2013, during which time he received a number of honors, including the Fellow Teacher of the Year Award in 2018, and the Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship Award in 2017, the highest honor a trainee can receive at Mayo Clinic. He joined the faculty of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery in 2018 and was named Assistant Professor of Surgery in 2019. Dr. Mendes is a reviewer for the Journal of Endovascular Therapy and Annals of Vascular Surgery. To date, he has delivered over 40 presentations in national and international meetings, and published over 50 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, editorials or abstracts. His main clinical interests are complex aortic pathology, fenestrated and branched stent grafts and endovascular treatment of peripheral arterial disease.
DARREN B. SCHNEIDER (Associate Professor of Surgery – Chief, Division of Vascular & Endovascular Surgery – Weill Cornell Medicine – New York – Presbyterian Hospital – Estados Unidos)
Darren B. Schneider, M.D. is Chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Director of the Center for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is a board-certified in both Surgery and Vascular Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Schneider is an internationally recognized expert in advanced minimally invasive treatment for vascular disease. He is a pioneer in the development and application of innovative endovascular techniques for the treatment of carotid disease, aortic aneurysms, and peripheral artery disease. His clinical research is focused on the design and development of endovascular devices for the treatment of patients with these conditions, and he is an investigator in numerous national and international clinical trials. Currently he is the lead-investigator of a single-center IDE study at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center evaluating the use of branched and fenestrated aortic stent grafts to treat thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms. He is also the national principal investigator of a multicenter study of endovascular iliac artery aneurysm repair using branched stent grafts.
Dr. Schneider earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego, and completed his residency at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center. His fellowships in interventional radiology and vascular surgery were completed at UCSF Medical Center and he completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Gladstone Institutes of Cardiovascular Disease. He is Associate Professor and Chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, Program Director in Vascular Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Co-Executive Director of the Vascular Service Line at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
ERIC VERHOEVEN (Klinikum Nuremberg – Alemanha)
Eric Verhoeven was born in Belgium in 1960. During his youth, he lived and followed school in different countries including Germany and France. He received his MD degree at the University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1988. After graduating in General Surgery (Leuven, 1994) he moved to The Netherlands for a fellowship in Vascular Surgery at the University Medical Center Groningen, and accepted a position as Consultant Vascular Surgeon one year later. He set up an endovascular programme in cooperation with the surrounding peripheral hospitals.
In 2005, he completed his PhD entitled “Endovascular Aneurysm Repair: Results and exploration of new frontiers” at the University of Groningen.
In November 2009, he accepted a position as chief of the department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery in Nuremberg (Germany).
In January 2011, he was awarded a guest-professorship of Surgery at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. In October 2011, he accepted a professorship in Vascular Surgery at the University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2014, he became full professor in vascular surgery at the Paracelsus Medical University of Nuremberg.
His main interest, both clinical and scientific, continues to be the treatment of complex aortic aneurysms with fenestrated and branched grafts, with now experience in more than 1300 cases.
He presented results of his work in numerous congresses with more than 1000 official presentations, and has published over 300 articles and book chapters.
He is married with Margo; together they have two sons (Daniel, 13, and Anthony, 12)
Other interests include a wide variety of sports and travelling. He speaks several languages (Dutch, French, German, English, Spanish and Italian).
GIOVANNI PRATESI (Italia)
Doctor Giovanni Pratesi was born on June 11th 1977 in Florence. He graduated from Medical School at the University of Florence on October 15th 2001 (summa cum laude), discussing a thesis entitled “New risk factors for carotid atherosclerotic disease”.
During the academic year 2001-2002 he was won admission to the School of Specialization in Vascular Surgery at the University of Siena.
In November 2006 he obtained the medical specialization in Vascular Surgery at the Division of Vascular Surgery of the University of Siena (summa cum laude), discussing a thesis entitled “Mid and long-term results of endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm”.
In January 2007 he became Researcher at the Unit of Vascular Surgery of the University of Roma Tor Vergata.
In June 2011 Dr Pratesi has passed the national qualification exam for Associate Professor and since October 2011 he is in charge as Associate Professor at the Unit of Vascular Surgery, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Roma Tor Vergata.
In 2012 he obtained the National Scientific Qualification to function as Full Professor of Vascular Surgery.
In 2002 he was given an award for the best thesis by the national congress of the Italian Society for Angiology and Vascular Medicine (SIAPAV).
In 2005 he spent an internship at the Department of Clinical and Interventional Angiology at the Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Germany, under the guidance of Prof. G. Biamino, taking part to peripheral endovascular interventions, particularly carotid stenting, as well as renal, pelvic and infrainguinal interventions.
In 2006 he has spent an internship at the Department of Radiology, Division of Interventional Radiology and Angiography, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville USA, under the supervision of Prof. M. D. Dake, where he dedicated mainly to thoracic aorta stent grafting.
In 2007 he won the X edition of the “Premio Bertini” Prize with a paper entitled “Mid and long results of endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm”.
In 2007 he spent an internship at the Department of Vascular Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, under the direction of Professor Michael Marin, dedicating in particular to the endovascular treatment of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm.
In November 2009 he won the Poster Presentation Prize at the “VEITH Symposium: 36th Annual Symposium on Vascular and Endovascular Issues”, New York.
Dr Pratesi clinical activity was mainly focused on endovascular techniques, particularly in the treatment of peripheral artery diseases and thoracic and abdominal aorta diseases, being involved in more than 2000 open and endovascular operation and in 750 operation as first operator. In 2010 he started, and still guides, a dedicated program in advanced technology for the treatment of complex aortic disease using branched and fenestrated endograft. He is also taking part to outpatient activities, as well as invasive and non-invasive diagnostic procedures, particularly for preoperative planning and follow-up monitoring of endovascular procedures using dedicated software.
He has participated in many National and International congresses, most of the times as a speaker. Scientific activity consists of more than 200 publications either on national and international journals as well as textbook chapters.
Actual Impact Factor is 186,626 and h-index is 20.
Since January 2008, Dr Pratesi is reviewer of the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, the official journal of the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) and from January 2013 of the Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery.
He is a member of the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) and of the Italian Society of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE) and a member of International Society for Vascular Surgery (ISVS).
GUSTAVO ODERICH (Mayo Clinic – USA)
Dr. Oderich’s clinical practice is focused on the management of complex aortic diseases such as aneurysms, dissections, trauma and aortic pathology involving any segment of the aorta, including the ascending aorta, aortic arch, thoracoabdominal aorta or abdominal aorta. He is also involved in the multidisciplinary care of patients with connective tissue disorders including Marfan’s and Loeys-Dietz Syndrome. Dr. Oderich serves as principal investigator in physician-sponsored, industry-sponsored and global clinical trials and has helped advance minimally invasive treatment of aortic diseases using fenestrated and branched stent-grafts. The Mayo Clinic Aortic Center program, led by Dr. Oderich, has accumulated extensive experience with endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms and dissections using these devices, with significant reduction in mortality and morbidity compared to results of open surgical repair.
HENCE VERHAGEN (Erasmus University Medical Center – Holanda)
Hence JM Verhagen, MD PhD, graduated from medical school in 1992. He started his Surgical training with several rotations in The Netherlands, Zimbabwe and the UK. His Vascular fellowship was done at The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia, where he developed his special interest in minimal-invasive endovascular therapies and endovascular aneurysm treatment in particular. In 2002, he accepted a position as Associate Professor in Vascular Surgery at the University Medical Center in Utrecht. In 2007 he was appointed as Professor and Chief of Vascular Surgery at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
He is an internationally renowned expert in this field. He has organized many basic-, and advanced international training courses on EVAR and TEVAR and is the founder of the Dutch practical course (basic and advanced) on peripheral percutaneous vascular interventions for Vascular Surgeons. He has performed several “first in Man” implantations of aortic endografts and is global Principal Investigator (PI) of several Aortic Stentgrafts
Professor Hence Verhagen has a special interest in Aortic pathology and interventions, including cutting-edge endovascular technologies, in which he has extensive experience. He is president-elect of both the Dutch Society for Vascular Surgery and the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS), co-founder of the Cardiovascular Center Erasmus MC, consultant/scientific advisor for several medical device companies, has over 280 publications in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, is member of many international vascular societies, reviewer for a variety of international scientific journals, faculty member for numerous international congresses, and has given hundreds of scientific lectures at international conferences including many keynote presentations. Momentarily he’s participating in the executive education course “Managing Health Care Delivery” at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA
MARK FARBER (North Carolina – USA)
Dr. Mark Farber is the Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC He is also the Director of the Aortic Network. He received his medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years.
THOMAS C. BOWER (Mayo Clinic – USA)
Dr. Thomas C. Bower is a consultant in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Mayo Clinic, and is Professor of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
He was elected to the Mayo Clinic Teacher of the Year Hall of Fame in 2012, and has served in a number of administrative roles in the institution, including the Officers and Councilors. In November 2018, he was honored by his peers with the prestigious Mayo Clinic Distinguished Clinician Award. He was twice nominated to be President of the Mayo Clinic Staff.
To date, he has trained nearly 100 vascular surgery fellows and residentes, published more than 215 peer-reviewed articles, written 61 book chapters, and given nearly 300 presentations.
